'The Glee Project' Recap: And Then There Were Three

Oxygen

"The Glee Project's" final five

[Warning: This story contains spoilers from Tuesday's episode of The Glee Project.]

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'The Glee Project': Sizing Up the Final Five

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Oxygen's The Glee Project kicked up the stakes with a double elimination in its penultimate episode, narrowing the field to a final three heading into the season finale.

During its "Actability" theme, Michael -- a first-time homework winner -- and Lily were both sent packing, leaving Aylin, Ali and Blake to compete for a seven-episode arc on Fox's Glee.

In a change for the contestants, casting director Robert Ulrich and guest mentor Dianna Agron challenged the Final Five to portray a different emotion as they sang Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love," holding up cue cards to inform their performance, throwing the prepared routine out the window.

STORY: 'The Glee Project': Sizing Up the Final Five

In addition, the five were assigned Glee-like characters for a trailer for fake movie set to Pink's "Perfect" instead of the weekly music video, giving them dialogue rather than dancing challenges for what Ali dubbed the "biggest challenge of the competition."

Here's The Hollywood Reporter's look at the favorites heading into the finals, ranked from least likely to win to the front-runner after all five were "gifted" with last-chance performances for Ryan Murphy, the mentors and the entire Glee writing staff.

3. Ali: Lily usurped her performance in the video and Murphy called her out on the weak performance. Meanwhile, Ian Brennan was impressed by her last chance performance of "Here's To Us" by Halestorm enough to picture her as a bitch-type character on Glee, with Murphy agreeing that he could envision writing a character for her that isn't built around her disability.
Who she could play: Without Santana, Glee needs a new bitch in town at McKinley.

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2. Blake: Dubbed the best actor of the bunch by Ulrich, he delivered a rousing performance of a song he didn't know -- Elton John's "I'm Still Standing" -- two hours before singing it for the writers. Scribe Matthew Hodgson called him a star and noted he "has it all," while Ali Adler thought he lacked the vulnerability that made him a misfit.
Who he could play: Finn 2.0 at McKinley.

1. Aylin: Her last chance rendition of "Fighter" by Christina Aguilera impressed the entire panel with not a single negative comment during the hour. To her credit, multiple writers can already see the space for her Glee, with several expressing excitement that her Muslim background makes only adds to her overall appeal for a show that has already explored disabilities and sexuality, with Murphy even noting that her story has always been fresh to him.
Who she could play: A fearless Muslim student who isn't afraid to go against her religion.

Who do you think will win The Glee Project's second season? Hit the comments with your thoughts. The season finale airs Tuesday at 10 p.m. on Oxygen.

Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit